Hevad Khan has become one of the most conspicuous players at the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event. His name has been near the top end of the chip leader board since the end of his second day, he's spent plenty of time at the ESPN feature table, and his brash and enthusiastic celebrations have made him a favorite among the camera crews and producers prowling the Amazon Room looking for excitement.

The 22-year-old Poughkeepsie, NY, native wasn't well recognized in the world of live poker before now, and with only a few cashes in his live career, it would seem strange if he were. But Khan, an online poker pro by trade, has a reputation that preceded him so potently that almost everyone in the Amazon Room refers to him by his online poker screen name: Rain Khan. Even official chip count providers, PokerNews.com, had him listed as "Rain Khan" in the early stages of the tournament.

Khan isn't the highest stakes player on the Internet, nor is he the winningest, but in early 2006 Khan was the subject of an online poker saga that etched his name into the minds of many online poker devotees. It started when people noticed that his screen name, "RaiNKhaN", was playing a huge number of tournaments - up to 28 - at the same time. Some thought it wasn't possible for a person to keep track of such a large number of tournaments, and speculation grew that 'RaiNKhaN' might have been using a "bot", a computer program that automatically plays hands using a pre-determined strategy. Bots are illegal in online poker rooms and, after fielding complaints from players who doubted Khan's legitimacy, one of the largest online poker rooms conducted an investigation into his play. Khan disputed the allegations and claimed that not only was he playing without aide, but that he was capable of playing over 40 tournaments at a time. To ensure that all doubt was removed from the minds of investigators and opponents, Khan cooperated with the review. When that wasn't enough to squash the skepticism, he sent them video footage of himself playing more than 25 tournaments simultaneously on a single 17-inch monitor. The video cleared his name, parts of it eventually appeared on the Internet, and an online poker sensation was born.

When the Main Event coverage airs on ESPN later this year, it's almost certain that Khan's online poker fame will be exceeded by "real world" poker fame. Making the final table of the World Series of Poker Main Event, something Khan is on the verge of doing at press time, guarantees one a considerable amount of notoriety, but Khan will likely be one of the prime focuses of the coverage leading up to the final table. His perplexing, wild celebrations and antics have separated his personality from the pack, and he's got a few other things the television cameras gravitate towards - a group of enthusiastic supporters cheering him on from the rail and respectable poker skill. Unlike past media favorites such as Dmitri Nobles, Khan is a professional poker player. He has proven he can win for an extended period of time, and he's held his own throughout the deep stages of the tournament, when weaknesses in a player's game usually shine through at the expense of their tournament life. The television coverage of the main event always features wacky personalities, but rarely are they alive in the later stages of the tournament. Khan certainly ranks among the wacky Main Event personalities, but not only is he alive at this stage of the tournament, he's got a chance to win it all.